How can I plant some vegetable plants outside and stop them from being eaten by slugs, flies and other things?

How can I plant some vegetable plants outside and stop them from being eaten by slugs, flies and other things?


Without the use of pesticides?


BTW - I live in England

How can I plant some vegetable plants outside and stop them from being eaten by slugs, flies and other things?
To block snails %26amp; slugs you have several choices. Handpicking, baited traps, physical barriers and natural predators. Last year I kept count and I picked up over 300 snails after rain brought them out in daylight. I also use copper around sensitive hostas and lettuce plants but my best method is to lay a board over straw to offer slugs a shelter. Then lift every morning and drop slugs into soapy water. I sometimes bait it if I am baking bread and have a starter. This is because slugs are attracted by yeast scents. ? Try a mixture of 1 tablespoon (T) yeast, 1 T flour, 1 T sugar, and 1 cup water as bait or use beer.


Here is an article on non-toxic control methods by Arzeena Hamir


http://www.pioneerthinking.com/tv-slugs....


Copper barriers, garlic granules, shock mats, and plastic slug collars


http://www.greengardener.co.uk/slugextra...


http://www.just-green.com/ProductDetails...


I found this but have't tried it yet. Spray the hostas with a dilute (4:1 or even weaker) solution of water and household ammonia in the evening once a week-more often in the spring or with a lot of rain. Supposedly the slugs hate the ammonia and the plants love the nitrogen.





To protect against moth eggs being laid use floating row covers or cheesecloth tents. Sheer material allows photosynthesis but stops egg laying. Just use crossed stakes to prop material on away from the plants.





Cut top %26amp; bottoms off tuna tins or large 2L plastic bottles to make collars to prevent cut worms gnawing tender seedling stems. Push the ring into the soil around an emerged leaf and let the plant grow up through the ring. Cut worm controls include Bacillus thuringiensis known as Bt. Remove the wild or garden host plants like wallflower, mustard or members of the cabbage family from problem area.





Place bat boxes around to attract insect predators.


http://batmanagement.com/Batcentral/batb...


http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/lc/lc_b...





Earwig traps


Earwigs are nocturnal so the most effective methods are baited traps.


One earwig trap is plastic pots baited with fish oil (like tuna or sardines) on water. Place water %26amp; oil in a small cup sunk into the ground. Earwigs will visit this. Keep the level of the oil at least an inch below the surface, forcing the earwigs to crawl deeply into the cup. Many earwigs may be attracted into oil-baited cups and drown.





The second method is to roll corrugated cardboard. This can be very effective trapping earwigs, as can rolled or crumpled newspapers stuffed into small paper bags. Wheat bran and wheat germ are among the baits that have been effective in CSU trials. Roll the cardboard into a spiral while sprinkling with bran. Fasten with string or rubber bands.


Another is to place the bran %26amp; paper ball into a flower pot and invert it onto a flat piece of wood.


Old lidded candy tins with a small hole punch in the side can be baited with bran also.


All such traps should be collected daily, bagged and/or the captured earwigs discarded.





Many common pests are nocturnal like earwigs, slugs, and ground beetles. This makes it hard to ID the damage source so use a yellow sticky trap. This can be used to identify beneficial insects already present and hard to find insect pests.





Beneficial ladybugs and lacewings can be purchased online.





Calendula and Tagetes marigolds deter some isects if planted near the garden.





Pest %26amp; Disease Profiles


http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandga...


http://www.buglogical.com/pestControlCat...


http://www.uidaho.edu/so-id/entomology/H...


Bug ID


http://www.whatsthatbug.com/index.html


http://www.odonalsnurseries.com/educatio...


http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740


Purdue's Virtual Plant %26amp; Pest Diagnostic Lab


http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/conhort.h...





Lists The Good, the Ugly (occasionally bad), %26amp; the Really Bad


http://gardening.about.com/gi/dynamic/of...
Reply:Try using a "Soap" based spray. It's the safest thing out there. You can pick this up at your local garden/hardware store.